Just 48 hours before fight time, Bobby Lashley finally got an opponent for his Strikeforce debut at Saturday night’s ‘Strikeforce: Miami’ event.  Lashley will take on journeyman heavyweight and UFC veteran Wes Sims.  Sims was a contestant on the most recent season of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’.  Lashley’s debut for the US #2 MMA promotion has been somewhat overshadowed by NFL veteran Herschel Walker’s first professional fight, but the former WWE superstar is a physically imposing and very intriguing heavyweight prospect.

Having fought professionally since 2001, Wes Sims is vastly more experienced than his opponent in his matchup. Sims has a career record of 22-12, with only three of his professional fights coming in the UFC.  He’s fought in essentially every other promotion, past and present that exists in North America.  For most of his career, he’s been a fighter that has struggled when he steps up in class though more recently he’s lost a few bouts to fighters that aren’t quite as impressive.  Sims is a big, powerful fighter at 6’8″ and 265 pounds but clearly he isn’t as well conditioned as the chiseled Lashley.

Lashley destroyed Bob Sapp in his last fight, and there’s a good chance he can ground and pound his way to victory here.  Sims doesn’t have the amateur wrestling background that Lashley does, nor does he pose a submission threat.  He clearly was brought in to be a ‘beatable’ opponent for Lashley, and the fact that he has some name recognition is a bonus.

Sims is the third opponent that has been slated to take on Lashley in his Strikeforce debut.  Originally, Lashley was to take on undefeated heavyweight prospect Shane Del Rosario which would have likely been his toughest test to date.  Strikeforce eventually figured it wise to not match Lashley with a future heavyweight star at this stage of the game and turned their attention to journeyman Jimmy Ambriz.  Most recently, Ambriz’s highest profile fight was in the Japanese DREAM promotion against Sergei Kharitonov.  For whatever reason, a deal couldn’t be brokered between Strikeforce and Ambriz for the fight and the promotion turned their attention to Sims.

The Strikeforce: Miami event will air on the Showtime network in the US and is headlined by a potential fight of the year candidate between Nick Diaz and Marius Zaromskis for the vacant Strikeforce Welterweight Title.  Also on the card, Melvin Manhoef faces Robbie Lawler, Jay Hieron tangles with Joe Riggs and former NFL star Herschel Walker makes his professional MMA debut against Greg Nagy.

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